This disclosure is generally related to high speed wireless packet-based data networks and devices. In particular, this disclosure is related to load balancing in wireless networks, e.g., third generation (“3G”) or fourth generation (“4G”) networks. Examples of 3G networks include networks operating on wireless technologies such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data only (“EvDO”)/CDMA. Examples of 4G networks include networks operating on wireless technologies include Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (“WiMAX”) technologies and Long Term Evolution (LTE) technologies.
In multi-carrier radio access network (RAN) systems, each base station (BS), or base band unit (BBU) and remote radio head (RRH) support multi-carrier frequencies to communicate with a plurality of users geographically covered by that base station. One BS may be deployed per sector or across multiple sectors. In a typical multi-carrier network, due to a constant addition and removal of users or user service flows (SF) served or otherwise associated with a BS, the traffic load handled by a particular carrier (or frequency) of the BS may be much more than one or more other carriers associated with that BS. Accordingly, it is important to balance the collective traffic load served by all the carriers of a BS to maximize capacity and performance of the network, and at the same time, improve the user experience in accessing the network services.
Existing load balancing solutions are restricted to considering only one factor, e.g., number of users served by the overloaded carrier, buffer size, service flow class, etc., for load balancing and/or to only one type of scenario based on which the load balancing process is triggered at the BS. However, taking into account only one criterion or factor to decide which user or service flow should be moved from its existing carrier to another for load balancing purposes may not be a comprehensive, flexible solution. The need for having a comprehensive load balancing solution increases as the number of users increases and the traffic generated by these subscribers also increases.
What is therefore needed is a system and method for a load balancing solution that considers a plurality of factors and provides flexibility, e.g., in terms of using quality of service (QoS) level, particular reasons and/or thresholds for a load balancing trigger, and other parameters, in selecting the plurality of factors.